Proverbs 13:20 - Meaning and Application

People who want to be good must keep good company. The friends they choose show what kind of people they are becoming, and good companions help shape them for the better. They guide them, wake up their conscience, and encourage them to keep going in the right path. If someone wants to be wise, he should walk with wise people, choose them as close friends, and talk with them often. He should ask them for advice and enjoy useful, godly conversation. As Sirach says, do not miss the talk of the older wise men, because they learned from their fathers (Ecclesiasticus 8:9). And again, be willing to listen to every godly conversation, and do not let wise sayings slip away from you (Ecclesiasticus 6:35).

Many people are ruined by bad company. A companion of fools will be broken, as some translate it, or he will be known for what he is, as the Septuagint has it, known to be a fool. A person is known by the company he keeps. He will become like them, or, as others read it, he will be made wicked. In the end, it comes to the same thing, because all who make themselves wicked will be destroyed. Those who spend their time with evildoers are spoiled by them, ruined by them, and at last they blame their own downfall on that company.